The Cycle of Pain and Hope
by Teenangel
Summary: A different ending to FMA. Mostly following the life of Edward's daughter. Tidbit: Death is not your shadow, but your light Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence, death. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. Spoilers!
1. Home

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, from Alphonse getting his body back to far into the future. Mostly following the life of Ed's daughter. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. Envy spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother.

* * *

Edward Elric stared out the train window, watching Central pass-by. He imagined leaving Central for good meant leaving behind all that had transpired, but as the city limits blinked out of sight an aura of despair still clung to his shoulders, weighing him down. 

"Brother."

Ed smiled sadly at Al, and Al smiled back—with _his_ lips, with _his_ eyes, with the dimples in _his_ soft warm cheeks. Al's helmet sat next to him, a momentum of their journey; Ed suspected Al was attached to his old body, like looking at your own corpse.

"Brother," Al repeated, "everything is gonna be fine now, right?"

Ed crossed his arms, "I can't guarantee that, but it does seem that way."

Al sensed tension in his Ed,"What are you thinking brother?"

He sighed and stared at the floor, "You—you'd think, the world could learn to be fine. But…dad, Dante, and teacher and Scar's brother, us, we all repeated the same mistakes, the same misery, the same pain. It's like an evil cycle, Al, a vindictive cycle that the human race can never escape."

"I don't believe that," said Al.

Ed remained silent.

XXXXX

They reached Risembool at sunset. The moment they got off the train a blur of blond hair, and a pale green summer dress streaked passed. Winry tackled Al into a hug and pulled him onto the ground. Ed raged with jealousy, why was he so easy to pass by?

"Ohmygod, Al!, ohmygodyouralive, Imeanyourback to your normal body, I never doubted Ed and you would find away, how long have you been like this, I missed you guys so much, why didn't you call, I cant believe how cute you look the girls in Risembol are gonna be crazy over you!"

"Winry," interrupted Ed, placing a cold hand on her shoulder, "Al, does need to breath."

"Yes, air, please," Al said grabbing Winry's arms off.

She released Al and stood up, "Ed, your arm, it's still—"

He flexed the metal joints. "Yeah, I've gotten used to it," he said, not wanting to go into details, "So, time to head home, eh."

"Yes, home," she whispered, and a mix of emotions played across her face. Ed was about to reach out, when she blasted, "AND YOU SHOULD STAY THIS TIME, HOME, AND NOT LEAVE AND HAVE ME WORRIED THAT YOU'LL GET HURT OR YOU WON'T COME BACK. NOT AGAIN EDWARD!" She grabbed his luggage and huffed off.

"Ow, my ears," Ed whined, "doesn't she know how to _greet_ people!"

"She cares about you, brother," Al said and ran to catch Winry.

Ed scrunched his face and began to slowly follow them. He let them stay ahead of him, watching the way Winry's hair blew in the breeze, her smile, her laugh, her beautiful blue eyes. When they got to the house Ed paused in the yard.

Winry twirled around on the porch, "Ed, is something wrong…what are doing?"

"A present," he said, clapping his hands and putting them on the grass. The next second Winry found a circle of flowers being placed on top her head, and yellow eyes looking longing into her blue ones, as if they could mix like paint into a new color. "Not leaving this time, I swear."

"Come one, Ed," she took his hand, "Aunt Pinako made stew."

"YES, I LOVE STEW!"


	2. I Promise Daddy

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, from Alphonse getting his body back to far into the future. Mostly following the life of Ed's daughter. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. Envy spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother.

* * *

_1933-Risembool_

Little Allison Elric woke up to a vibrating purr on head and warm fur pressed against her nose. She petted her brown Kitten Cocoa, a present from her Uncle Al for her seventh birthday. Sitting up and blinking at the morning, she scooped Cocoa up into her arms, then placed her gently on the floor where she stretched and pranced off into the hall.

A little red dress, little red shoes, and a little red hair band to keep Ali's gold hair out of her face—except the pesky bangs that curtained her cheeks, just like her dad. Downstairs, she found her mother in the workshop, swearing and throwing tools.

"Mommy, where's daddy, he promised to teach me stuff today."

"Oh," she whacked some automail with a hammer, and Ali suspected not in a fixing way, "he went to pick some apples from Aunt Elysia's orchard."

"Can I go to Aunt Elysia's and Uncle Al's?" she asked, pouting.

"Yes, just be careful," but Ali had already dashed out the door, leaving it creaking on its hinges.

XXXXXXX

"To Elysia's and Al's I go, lalalalalaa," she singed, skipping down the path from the "Elrics': Alchemy and Automechanic Workshops", to the "Home of Elric-Hughes" as the mail box said in front of a green and white trimmed house. She heard noise through the kitchen window, but went around and headed straight to the orchard.

"Daddy," she giggled, creeping amongst the apple trees, "oh Dadd—DADDY!"

Edward Elric lay face first in the grass, a basket of red and golden delicious apples scattered on the ground beside him. Ali shook him as vigorously as little hands could shake, great dewy tears welled up and pattered down onto her dad's brown vest and white shirt. He groaned, and shifted his automail arm to flip himself over, so he could wearily stare into the blues eyes that seemed like the sky, raining on him.

"Daddy," she said. His eyes glazed over, skin warm, but clammy with sweat. She took in a deep breath and let out a milk curdling scream, "UNCLE ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!"

XXXXXXX

Ali crouched, hidden behind the closet door in her parent's room. A doctor had been sent from town to check on her father. Al had carried him back here; her strong, brave daddy needing to be carried. His skin was so pale and his eyes dull as he and the others listened to the doctor's prognosis.

"It's what my mother had, isn't it," Ed said, getting straight to the point.

"Yes," the doc nodded, "it's genetic and chronic."

Uncle Al's eyes looked to the left of the room; Ali remembered Aunt Elysia teaching her how to read people, that looking to the left meant they were remembering something (and to the right meant they were fabricating).

"The symptoms will waver in and out, but they will get progressively worse and—"

"Thanks, doc," said Ed, recalling times when his mother had gotten sick, before they knew; she'd always told them it was just a cold, nothing to worry about. "I get the idea. Only a few years left."

The doctor knew he'd brought sorrow; it lay over them like a thick layer of sickly sweet icing that you couldn't stomach. Winry tried to snuggle into her husband, but he clamped shut, and didn't acknowledge her kiss on his cheek or the sweet words in his ear.

"Get some rest, brother," Al tried to smile, but his big child eyes only amplified the sadness—and a hint of anger.

Ed lay their, trying to listen to the words floating up from downstairs. A sob in the room caught his attention. He rolled over slowly using his automail arm, because it didn't get weary like the rest of him. The closet door was cracked open, and there was a small shaking form hunched up against the molding.

"Ali, Allison," he pleaded, "come here."

She came out of the closet, whipping her eyes with the hem of her dress, and crawled onto the bed, snuggling up against her daddy. Wrapping her small arms around him, she could feel the sickness, feel the weakness as his arm tried to hug in return, but merely lay over her.

"I love you, daddy, please don't leave me," she smothered her face into his shirt.

"Ali, I want you to promise something," he said in a low serious tone, like when he talked to her about throwing now tools like mommy did, "I want you to promise, that you won't do anything stupid."

"Like when I drove my bike into the water," she asked.

"No, I mean something really really stupid, something you really shouldn't do, ever, NEVER!"

Ali was startled by his tone and pulled away, "Daddy, do you mean human transmutation?"

Ed's eyes widened, "Uh, where, did, you, hear, about that?"

Her face began to contort and rivers of tears were soaking into Ed's sleeves, "I'm sorry, I know I'm not meant to go into you workshop; I'm sorry I read your notes…Don't be angry with me…"

"Shhh, I'm not angry," he strained to hug her back into him, god he was so tired, "just promise, you'll never do it."

"I promise, I promise, daddy," she gave him a kiss and pulled the blanket over herself, "now Uncle Al said rest, I make sure you sleep."

"Oh, of course, I knew you'd be there little lapdog—"

"Sleep, daddy," she scolded. Her kitten steathily sneaking onto the bed, and curling up her hair.

"Ok, ok, sleeping," he said, and glared at Cocoa the fur ball before shutting his eyes.

Winry came up to bed a couple hours later, and curled up around her child and husband. And the kitten.


	3. One more sunrise

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel 

Summary: a different ending to FMA, from Alphonse getting his body back to far into the future. Mostly following the life of Ed's daughter. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. Spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother.

* * *

_1938-Risembool_

Cocoa, no longer a kitten and not even a youthful cat, daintily jumped off her owners bed and slinked outside. She hunted a few grasshoppers on the way to the pond to catch fish; she was a terrible pouncer. When she arrived at the hill looking over the water, she noticed her master's father sitting under the large oak and stealthily made her way over, deciding it was already time for a nap.

Ed was startled by Cocoa's soft head rubbing against his hand and almost lost his fragile position, with most of his weight against the tree and the rest on his metal leg. He didn't argue when the cat curled up against him, although he always snapped at Al that he got Ali a cat just to piss him off. He looked out over the country side, a pink glow covering the valley, the sun shy behind the hills. It had been five years, five years of worrying if tomorrow he wouldn't wake-up. Always one more sun-rise he asked, just one more.

Ali noticed the loss of her bed-warmer, so much more comforting then a stuffed animal, and slumped out of bed to recapture it. She threw her hair into a messy braid; her eyes looked left, how she missed her father's braid, but he'd stopped bothering and wouldn't let anyone touch his hair. It just hung long and sad, like the branches of a willow tree. Cat, she reminded herself. Shuffling around the house, she found no sign of her precious cat, not even in the kitchen trying to get into the cabinets.

"That's funny," she walked through the living room, "the door's open."

XXXX

Ed heard the side door shut and looked down at his companion, "I think someone noticed you missing; you're gonna get me into trouble." Purrrrrr.

"Dad," Ali's voice scolded, marching across the lawn in blue PJ's. He smiled at her, thinking how she was definitely shorter then he was at the same age, and thankfully much more innocent. "Dad," she kneeled down next to him, absentmindedly petting her cat, "if mom find's out you made yourself tired again by wandering around, she—"

"I think we both know what she'd like to do," he patted the ground on the other side of him.

"Dad," she sighed, grabbing onto his arm as if the metal didn't even phase her "if you want to watch the sunrise, you can ask for my help. Mom doesn't even need to know."

"Thanks, I can see you've absorbed some of Al's sweetness," he mused.

"Only when it suits me, we all know I'm a lot like you."

"No too much like me I hope," he looked up, "isn't that beautiful."

The sun peaked over the hill and an array of colors painted streaks in the sky. Ed couldn't feel her grip on his automail, and put reached his real hand over to feel their silkiness. Ali's eyes were on the sunrise, marveling at a natural beauty that alchemy could never reproduce. Her father's rough skin stroked her fingers, like he was petting the cat.Then they stopped, and lightly laid on her forehand. A weight pressed into her, and pale golden hair brushed over her cheek and shoulder. Cocoa let out a cracked meow and began to rub into Ed's leg, begging for him to scratch behind her ears again. Ali grabbed onto her father, covering him in tears, muffling her cries into his hair.

"I love you, daddy."

A shadow fell over them, blocking out the pink-orange light. Ali looked up to her mother's grief stricken face, which was stuck halfway, unsure. Winry caressed Ed's face, his pale, smooth face, already turning cold. Her eyes watered, but she swallowed her sadness, she knew this was coming. She placed a kiss on her Edward's lips.

"Ali, you can let go now," Winry said, Ali blinked as she couldn't understand, "let go, sweetie."

She nodded, slipping her arms out slowly, letting her father slide to the ground, as if he was only taking nap under a tree. Just a nap. If she shook him enough, could he wake up, wake up and repeat all the stories he'd told her, so she could hear his voice again.


	4. Death is your light

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, from Alphonse getting his body back to far into the future. Mostly following the life of Ed's daughter. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother

* * *

"…he wasn't just any State Alchemist, but the Full Metal Alchemist, the Alchemist of the people, and one of the strongest people I have ever met…" 

Ali ignored General Mustang's voice; she looked at all the people at the funeral, people her father had talked about but she'd never met. People from Lior, from Xenotime, from Central, from towns so far away they still didn't have train stations.

They spotted her easily, 'you must be Edward's daughter, you look just like him'.

Ali wanted to run back to the house; she could see it, not too far away, no one would—of course they'd notice, bright blond hair blurring away, like a beacon. She was stuck there; stuck in black pants, black dress shirt, and black. She hated black, such a depressing color, and the field was full of black people, like a crop of mourning, of sorrow, of loss.

Yet, even when the ceremony was over and the crowd dispersed, she stayed planted to her spot. The General was the last to leave, giving her a pat on the shoulder and advice she didn't hear.

"Dad," she hissed. Hot tears were boiling up inside her. She bit her tongue, sucking on the iron flavor in her blood. Her sadness sublimated away, replaced by a fierce black burning in the pit of her chest.

"You want Father back," a boy stood up from behind the tombstone, young, thin, with wild bushy hair, and automail limbs. She glared at Wrath, not surprised to see him, nor in the mood; he'd been floating around for awhile, sometimes letting Winry mend the parts he'd stolen from her father years ago.

"Of course I want him back, that's a stupid question," she spat, fisting her fingers tight.

"Not a question," tears were coming down his eyes, "use me."

Her eyes widened, "What!"

"Sacrifice me for your father, then you can have him back, and I can have Mother, please," he grabbed her shoulders, automail fingers painfully digging into muscle, "PLEASE! I'm willing, just do it! You know how. You're his daughter."

_I made a promise. _She looked away, grinding her teeth, "I'm sorry Wrath, I can't, I can't do human transmutation."

He collapsed in front of her, "But I can't live anymore, I CAN'T!"

"There are other ways to die, even for homunculi," she couldn't believe she was willing to help him, but he was in pain. Straight to the point, "Where are your bones?"

He stopped, "I, I don't really have any. But, but I don't want to die like that, just die, I want to, to die and have it worth something."

"To atone," she said, and looked towards the house where people had mingled. No one would bother her for awhile, "An equivalent exchange, for the greater good?"

"Yes," his voice croaked, his metal hand grabbed her ankle, "please help me die."

"Follow me." She led him to the other side of the cemetery, into a cluster of trees. It was a circular clearing she used to use as a secret hide to practice amateur alchemy. She wasn't an amateur anymore. Stick in hand, she began to draw a transmutation circle, five feet in circumference. Wrath watched in fascination as she delicately drew out the symbols, completely from memory, holding the stick like a paintbrush.

She finished, "Stand in the center."

He did so.

"Do you know what this circle is for?"

"No," he looked around, trying to recognize symbols, "yes, yes I do now."

She paused and stared at him intensely "You're okay with the exchange?"

"YES!" he shouted, startling her, "JUST DO IT! Please."

Ali looked at Wrath one last time, then slammed her hands into the circle—blue-purple light, black tendrils, doors in a void. Opening her eyes she saw Uncle Al above her, lines of worry over his child-like face. She braced herself, but this was not her father or her mother, instead of 'what the hell where you doing!' she got,

"Are your okay?" and a hand to help her up.

She swayed on her feet, "Yes, I—was I out for—"

"Only a few minutes," he said, and pink embarrassment colored his face, "I was watching. Winry sent me to get you—what did you do? with Wrath? You're sure you're okay?"

"I didn't do anything 'really really stupid' if that's what you mean," she frowned and began rubbing out the circle with her heel. When she was done, she clapped her hands together and pressed them into the ground. Flowers sprouted up and she placed a ring of them where Wrath had stood.

"Without circles, I see," said Al, holding back his disagreement, "Wrath in exchange for the Gate's knowledge."

She shrugged, "It was his choice, to die for something else, not in vain. He tried to convince me to bring dad back, but I promised I never would try something stupid."

"I'm glad you kept that promise, but—"

"I know, you consider this somewhat stupid, that's okay."

"There is something else isn't there?" he sensed.

Her jaw tightened. "It said something, Truth, whatever you call it, something that should bother me but doesn't." It played back in her mind, '..._death is not your shadow, but your light._' She didn't elaborate and he didn't push. "Come on," she said, "before mom sends Uncle Roy to burn down the trees looking for us."

He followed, "Ali, when did you grow up?" She didn't answer. On the way back they stopped at Ed's grave again and Allison made a large wreath of flowers for it.


	5. Jealous to Death

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, from Alphonse getting his body back to far into the future. Mostly following the life of Ed's daughter. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother

* * *

_1958_

Every year she'd put a wreath of flowers on her father's grave, rain or shine.

She stood there, in her blue uniform, a small mist from a morning shower still clinging to the valley, making her braided hair frizz up. This year it was two wreaths of flowers. A military car parked a few feet behind her. She could sense the uneasiness of her Lt.

"Lt. Elric-Hughes, wouldn't you like to say some words to your Aunt and Uncle?"

"Excuse me, Colonel, I don't do well in cemeteries," he said, looking intently at the dirt, letting his small glasses slip to the end of his nose. She'd seen pictures of his Grandfather, Maes Hughes, and could see the resemblance even though his coloration was that of Alphonse. Those piercing eyes, were not an Elric trait.

"You can call me, Ali, we're not on duty. I used to baby-sit you for goodness sake."

"Do you have to say that out loud!"

She cocked an Elric grin. "Of course, Michael. Think of it as payback."

"Sorry," he huffed, "if you're so puny I couldn't spot you in the crowd on the last mission, not my fault."

"PUNY! Are you insulting your superior officer! Maybe all you people are just tall!"

"Of course I knew you'd take it that way, you have such a _short_ temper," he said smugly, "now if you don't mine, I have plans tonight—hey—"

"SHORT!" she shouted, chasing him outside the cemetery and around the car several times, "come back here and say that straight to my face."

"Come on, I'm your cousin!"

"Extra authority to skin your hide," she said, "just have to explain to Al that his son made a grave act of insubordination." Michael jumped onto the car, and slipped slamming into the hood, his glasses hitting the cobblestone road with a snap.

"Now look what you did," he whined, trying to see through shattered lenses.

"Calm down," clap, and they were brand-new.

"Excuse me," they turned to a young panting private, probably had ran all they way from Resembool's small command station. He stood too rigid, and over saluted, "Colonel Elric, there's been a disturbance in downtown Central, something about," he swallowed worried he'd sound ridiculous in front of the famous Blade Alchemist, "a giant snake, sir, I mean, mam, Colonel."

The Lt. and Colonel resumed their military personas. Michael sighed, back to duties and he had hoped to visit his parents on this trip. They gave the Private a ride back to town, and then punched it to Central.

XXXXXXXXX

Colonel Elric's subordinates had filled her in on the situation and from what the Lt. could tell, the road had been torn apart from the sewers up. The East half of Central was completely evacuated, not even the military dared venture into it. It looked like a bomb had gone off.

The Colonel and Lt. stopped the car at the line of destruction.

"Sorry, Ali," he said, "but you're on your own from here on in, my alchemy isn't up for this stuff."

"I know, don't worry, I'm never afraid," she said stepping out the car.

He sighed, turning the car around, and parking himself into an alley to hide, "Just don't get too cocky or my dad will kill me."

A snake, more accurately a dragon, they'd called it. She recalled the stories from her father as if they were her own memories, and the same anger burned through her, "Envy," she cried out, "stop hiding. Although I suppose you deserve to be in the sewers."

The ground shook and a giant green head full of teeth with enraged eyes burst out of the rubble in front of her. She was unfazed as rocks pelted her. Envy raised his serpent body, towering three stories above her.

"Finally," he said, saliva dripping from the corners of his mouth, "I have gotten back here to destroy you Full Metal pipsqueak."

"Oh really," she said, hands on hips, "sorry to disappoint you, but Edward Elric's been dead for awhile."

Envy growled, "I see, you're female. No doubt his prodigy, either way I will take Hoenheim Elric's descendents to their grave."

Those words struck Ali; she stared into the huge eyes and saw a painful desperation, like when Wrath was begging her. If Envy couldn't be happy, no one could be happy—a cycle of revenge, that benefited no one. She shrugged off her jacket, and straightened out her red short-sleeve shirt. On her forearms were bands of metal. She clapped her hands, then crossed her arms, passing her palms over them to make two long, shiny, sharp blades. Just in time to slice off a chuck of Envy's Jaw as he lunged his mouth at her.

Blade Alchemist, indeed.

Blood poured out like a waterfall, painting the broken bricks and rubble as if they'd always been a dead red. Envy's tongue lapped at his wound. His tail whipped across, sending giant debris towards Ali as she frantically dodged and transmuted. Soon, Envy found the tip of his tail gone too, but Ali found her self catapulted into a building.

"Oh, gonna leave a mark," she groaned.

"I want to taste you," his breath wafted onto her, a stench of rotting food, feces, and dead rats.

"Sorry, I think I'd be a bit sour," she clapped her hands and slammed palms onto the ground. A giant spike of stone burst forth, punching through Envy's serpent body, nearly splitting him in half. He lay on the bed of blood stained rubble, squirming, but most definitely alive and most definitely not dying.

She walked up to his head, next to his left eye, and scowled. Clap. Envy felt warm hands on his cold scales. Then, warm hands on…why was she looking down on him now? Envy reached out a hand—a hand! What had this blasted, midget done! He seethed, but his body, his humanoid body, was just as split and bleeding as the serpent form.

"You're easier to deal with this way, and I've made sure you can't change your form, Envy…William," she kneeled next to him, and he noticed that blond hair was coming from his head, not his classic black spikes.

"Bitch," he spit. Ali smeared the red dots off her face.

"Now, now, if you wanted to die, you could've just asked," she said, "but I know, you wanted to take the Elrics down with you, wanted to quench your jealousy by destroying what you were denied, to die fighting the thing you hate and the thing you crave."

Envy's eyes widened at her words, her understanding, even if he'd never admit it to himself, "Fine, you're so smart. Stop the chit-chat and get it over with."

"I don't like people dying unhappy," she said, "I'm sure you'd love to know, that my father didn't die comfortable or fast. He was in constant pain for years."

"Really?" Envy said sarcastically, blood dripping out of his lips, "that's so sad." He closed his eyes so he didn't have to see Edward's mirror image, "How do I know your not just saying that to make me feel—what are you doin—" he gagged on blood in his throat and resigned not to speak again; he growled feeling her fingers comb through his hair.

"It's soft, why do you hate it," she said, knowing he wouldn't answer, "Well, Will, I'm gonna kill you now."

He glared at her fiercely, and then smirked when he saw some blood drip from her mouth—he'd caused her damage. She clapped her hands and placed them on his cheeks—so warm, he thought, like when his mother would…

XXXXXXXXX

Lt. Michael Elric-Hughes was getting bored in the car, almost tempted to lend help. Ha! like being an expert on agricultural alchemy would help, blasted farm his parents had, couldn't they have taught him other things. He pulled a picture out of his family—his parents, himself, his two younger sisters. They were so cute in their spring dresses, like little dolls, and if any guy ever broke their poor little hearts he would crush their bones into flour and.

A knock came to the window. He jumped out of the car. She was in one piece, leaning on the hood, uniform jacket draped over a shoulder, and her mouth constantly spitting out blood. He noticed one of her metal armbands was cracked.

"Are you gonna catch me," she said, "or do I have to pass out on the car."

"Sorry," he lifted her into his arms and slipped her into the passenger seat; he was always amazed how light she was. " I assume it was a success?"

She moaned and cracked one eye open, saying 'shut up' 'duh' 'you're a moron' and 'would I be here if I failed'.

"Right, nevermind." He started the car, headed to the Central Infirmary.


	6. Living

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, from Alphonse getting his body back to far into the future. Mostly following the life of Ed's daughter. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother

* * *

_1961-Resembool_

Michael Elric-Hughes sat in a black military standard car, parked in front of his parents' house. He straightened his new uniform and polished his _Lt. Colonel _pin on his collar, then combed his hair a few times, and straightened his uniform again.

Allison groaned from the back seat, "Stop wasting time and get out of the car, or do I have to make it an order."

"Well, some people care about their appearance, especially on special occasions," he said, fixing a pesky lock of hair.

"Are you saying I don't care about my appearance." She wanted to yell at him, but the energy wasn't there; stupid long car rides.

He laughed, "You wear a red shirt to hide when you're wounded, and you braid your hair to get it out of your face, appearance is more then just practicality." They left the car and stepped onto the porch. Michael skipped knocking and barged right in, almost slamming the door into his father's face.

"Nice going, trying to kill him," Ali snapped.

Al smiled, "Allison, Mike, wow! This is a great surprise!"

Mike pulled on his collar, "I got a promotion, Lt. Colonel, now."

"Lt. Colonel pain in my ass," she muttered, "Uncle Al, what is that on your face."

"Yeah dad," he raised an eyebrow, "it looks weird, almost evil on you."

"It's just a goatee," he chuckled, "try something new."

Elysia came in through the back door with apples bowled in her apron. She smiled at her son, a few wisps of gray hair flying over her eyes as she went into the kitchen. Ali observed as Al stared where his wife had stood, like he was glaring at something else, a secret, a fear.

"Come on, dad," Mike patted him hard on the back, "mom knows how to age gracefully, why don't you give up the goatee and stop dying you hair."

Al grinned back, but Ali felt it wasn't sincere.

XXXXXXXX

Michael's sisters came for a celebratory lunch. The youngest, Marion, still lived with them, but Lisa, twenty and the spitting image of her mother, had taken over the old Rockbell place. Funny, how they still called it that sometimes, even after the name had died out, a residue from a past that Ali and her cousins were never apart of.

Marion stopped her ballet twirling in the orchard and turned to her cousin, who sat leaning against a tree; Ali was in her thirties, but Marion thought she looked like a child when she pondered, "What are you thinking?"

Ali picked up a stick and started poking the rotten spot of a fallen apple, "Nothing, actually, just trying not to fall asleep, so peaceful out here."

"Yes," said Marion plopping down next to her, "but by peaceful are you saying your bored to death."

She shrugged, "Well, there is nothing to kill here, so…hey I'm just kidding."

A red delicious fell in front of them, just like that from life to death, but Al always reminded them, the apple would come back to life again, another tree, if given the chance. Ali sighed and pulled her jacket closer; the sun was shining, but it felt cold.

"Are you okay?" a hand brushed Ali's cheek, "you look real white, and you feel warm." Ali didn't answer, just closed her eyes and rested her forehead on her knee; rest, that's all she wanted. Marion prodded her, "Come on, shorty, no falling asleep."

Ali didn't scream at the comment, not even glare. She felt it in her skin, in her bones, in the pull of her chest as if her lungs couldn't breath, "I can't get up," she stated, "please get, Al, please get him."

After a few failed attempts of trying to help Ali back to the house on her own, Marion finally left her cousin just at the edge of the orchard, lying on the grass looking up at the sky. "I promise I won't move," Ali joked. Marion sprinted back to the house.

She and her father returned a couple seconds later, but Ali had passed-out. Al hesitated to pick her up. His big brown eyes stared down at her prone, pale form, laying over it an image of his mother fainted on the kitchen floor, and an image of his brother collapsed with a scattering of apples. It all seemed like one event, a constant for him with in his life, an endless tragedy.

XXXXXXXXX

"Hey, Allison," Michael tickled her nose with a feather.

Ali opened her eyes, "Lt. Jackass," she muttered.

"Lt. Colonel Jackass," he corrected. Ali glared, then looked around. She was in Michael's old room, probably because it was on the first floor, easier to get to. Al must've carried her back, or maybe Mike, she couldn't remember.

Al came in ushering his son away. His face was straight, but his eyes were looking left, remembering, "The doc came already, you have it, too."

"I've suspected for awhile," she said, embarrassed to admit it.

"Here," he handed her a glass of orange liquid, "the doc brought this. He says its not perfect yet, your one of the first to receive it. It won't cure you, but it will suppress it."

Ali took it staring at a hope neither her grandmother or father had imagined, "I'll live. Live like normal?"

He nodded, "You have to drink one glass every month to keep it suppressed, for the rest of your life."

"Small inconvenience," she said, and chugged the drink, gagging at the horrible sticky bitter flavor; it was like licking earwax, "why are good things always so gross."

Her Uncle Al swallowed a laugh, sometimes he would think he was talking to Ed, then he'd remember. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he took her hand and pressed it against his cheek. She felt warm tears slip between her fingers, and pulled Al into a hug.

"It's okay," she whispered, "no one's dying today."

"I know," he said, "it's not that…Ali, I don't die my hair."


	7. Death to Life

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, reaching from Alphonse getting his body back, to far into the future. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother.

* * *

_1967—Central, Basement of "abandoned" building_

General Allison Elric ripped her jacket off and changed her arm bands into blades, charging through a maze of stone hallways. Trails of dried black and wet crimson blood on the walls whizzed by her. Alchemy circles drawn in black, white, red on the ceilings and floors.

She'd told him never _never_ to go off on a mission alone, no matter what the circumstance. Michael, the fool. They'd been gathering information on a rogue alchemist for weeks. Several grotesque and dying chimeras had been captured roaming the streets of Central—the most recent being partly human. It infuriated him; he put all his energy in the case. A couple days ago he'd made a break through, a probable location, but Ali was in Lior and insisted he wait for her to return.

Bloody fool, just because he got a promotion to Colonel didn't mean he could ignore orders.

The hallway suddenly opened up to a candle lit room full of books, papers, and cages with glowing eyes; Ali tripped to a halt. She instinctively went to put her blades at the ready, but stopped. The scene before her filled her golden eyes, but her mind rejected it. Slowly it seeped in; she couldn't breath, she couldn't think, she wished she couldn't see.

A giant complex circle was drawn on the concrete floor—in shiny red. She was standing on it; the toe of her boot moved and smeared it. A body lay in the center, an old bald man, eyes bulging, riddled with bleeding holes, lost in the drenched red gore of his once white shirt. The candles simmered and the room felt like it was shaking. She caught a glint in her periphery vision and picked up a pair of small shattered spectacles.

The form of her cousin finally seeped from her eyes to her mind. Propped against a bookshelf, dried brown lines going down his head and neck. She walked across the circle, leaving a trail of wet red footprints. Her fingers touched his face and shot away when his eyes opened.

"Oh god, Mike."

One of his eyes was completely black, half his hair was a mirky green, and snake scales dotted the right side of his face. It all slowly came to her, the pieces put together. She was tempted to turn to the body of the rogue alchemist and add insult to injury by tearing his lifeless body into shreds.

"Hurt, everywhere, nowhere, inside," he rasped with a forked tongue.

"It's okay." she caressed his smooth cheek, " I can take the pain away."

"I'm sorry," he said, "Tell them, sorry, love them."

"I will." she held him close, wrapping her arms around him. She balled her fists against his back, feeling the pulsating tense pain in his muscles, then she shoved both blades into his body, into a lung into his heart. Hot, slick wetness poured over her hands. His muscles relaxed.

XXXXXXXX

_Resembool _

Al was half-destroyed by the death of his son. He did not reach out to his wife or his daughters for support, but he came to _her_ to pull him out of his dark hole. Allison should've suspected it. She remembered the bond between her father and her uncle, it was only fitting that Al would latch onto her, purposely mistake her for his brother.

The funeral was small, Al couldn't bring himself to attend it.

Allison kneeled in front of Michael's grave after everyone had dispersed. He'd been promoted to Brigadier General posthumously like his grandfather. Ali scowled, recalling how her father told her that 'life is a viscous cycle, repeating itself'. She didn't want to believe it.

She clapped and put her hands on the ground, but the focus wasn't there. A couple weak flowers sprouted up. Gentle hands came down and rubbed her shoulders. Whirling around she grabbed fiercely onto her husband and sobbed, drenching his shirt in hot salty sorrow, pain, anger. He held her close, but timidly, unsure and unused to this show of emotion from her.

She clung to him, to his scent of musty paper, glue, and leather, the scent of a librarian. Michael had introduced her to him; his annoying plot to get her married. She couldn't imagine back then that she'd fall for a quiet, kind hearted, yet strict librarian. But now it made sense; he reminded her of Al. This was an Al to her Ed-ness.

Facing the tombstone, she sniffed away the sadness and was composed again. He sat down next to her, big blue sympathetic eyes.

"He lost his life, his son lost a father, his father lost a son. Life is so cruel." She said and wiped away a tear-to-be from her eye, "Life comes and it goes. It's—it's, I don't have a word for the irony."

He quirked an eyebrow, "There is something else?"

She sigh and dropped the ball, "I'm pregnant. I know we weren't planning on it, but maybe it's a type of balance…but, nothing can replace Mike."

"No," he squeezed her hand. He was looking at her with that uncertain look, begging her to tell him what kind of reaction she was looking for, what kind of reaction she could deal with. She couldn't explain to him the feelings cursing and melting in her. How she felt about taking life when life was just beginning inside her—although she had not known at the time.

Yet, if Michael had never gotten them together this child in her would never have existed. Mike had left his mark on the world, the only thing now was to have hope for the future.

Her husband silently watched her barred from her thoughts, but he knew there were things she protected him from, things he accepted as closed doors without question. "Can we name the baby Michael or Michelle," he blurted.

She blinked and then let a grin escape, "Yes, good names."


	8. Alan, Ali, Al

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, reaching from Alphonse getting his body back, to far into the future. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother.

* * *

_2006_

Alan Elric drew a circle on the ground in front of his great grandparent's grave, Edward and Winry Elric. His Grandma Allison had explained how she would make flowers for them every year. Alan was a smart little boy, he knew grandma was getting old, she wouldn't be able to make the flowers someday.

He pressed a palm on the circle and daisies popped up from the cool fall ground. He sat there crossed legged, braiding them into a wreath; he still couldn't form it automatically into a circle with Alchemy, but his mom was teaching him to control the details more. A crooked oval of flowers was placed on the tombstone.

"See Great Grandpa Ed, I'm gonna be a great Alchemist like you some day," he then noticed the other graves in the small Resembool cemetery. A couple more circles and tedious work, and he'd made two more wreaths for Trisha Elric, and Elysia and Al Elric-Hughes.

"That's very sweet of you," said a solemn voice, almost childlike.

Alan turned around, facing a man in his early-forties with short dirty blond hair and brown eyes, "Thanks Al. Are you named after that Al?" he pointed to the stone.

Al's face seemed drained, "Yes, yes I am, just like you. We're…cousins, remember."

"No," he grumbled, "Grandma Allison tried to tell me, but the family tree is to messy."

The older man laughed, "Messy, I'd say that's a good word for it," he ruffled up the boy's hair, "Now, I came here cause you're mother sent me, they're all packed and ready to return to Central."

"I like the country," Alan whined, marching back to the road, "Bye, Al."

Al waved and then turned standing in front of Edward's grave and cried.

XXXXXXXXX

Alan, the blond lightening bolt, burst through the doors into his grandmother's office, bounced on the couch before taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of her redwood desk. Ali ignored her grandson's entrance, as if he was any other subordinate. She sat in her blue uniform, gray hair pulled into tree separate braids, and then braided into one—less complicated then it looked.

"I came for a mission," her grandson piped.

"Really," she didn't look up, but signed a paper, flipped it onto a pile, and began filling out another form.

"Yes," he nodded, creating a lower voice, "I think I'm ready for a mission."

"Well, this could be difficult, but could you get me the red book on the top shelf in the back?"

Alan hopped out of the chair. She watched him intently as he stared up six feet to the shelf, and then began frantically trying to find a way to reach it. None of the chairs in the room were tall enough. And the tables were even shorter. The file cabinet wouldn't budge from the other side of the room—pity, he could use the drawers as steps.

Ali quietly opened a draw, a chucked a "hint" across the room. A piece of chalk landed in front of him. Aha! He drew a simple transmutation on the floor and placed the two chairs into it— and made a chair ladder. He returned proudly with the book.

"Thank you," she said, putting it aside, "now how about a hug,"

He lunged onto her lap, "I missed you grandma."

The door creaked open, small blue eyes peered in half covered with slick black hair, "Excuse me, sorry to interrupt but—"

"You may enter Colonel Mustang."

The soldier marched in and handed her a folder, "My report, Furher Elric."

"Thank you," she placed it on top of the book, "this here is my grandson, I don't think you've met."

Alan ran up to him, "Hi, I'm Alan Roy Elric, and someday I'm gonna be a colonel, too."

"You like kids, Maes Mustang," she said, "I have to go to Parliment, I'm sure you could help him with his alchemy."

He smiled down at the kid, whose middle name was that of his grandfather, "Yes, mam, I'm sure we'll have fun."

"Good," she said, "you can start by reconstructing my chairs."

XXXXXXXX

Ali returned to her office exhausted from listening to men bicker politics--a bunch of hot air. She sat in her chair, pushing aside paperwork, hoping Maes Mustang and Alan were having a good time. That soldier needed to chill more often, always trying to live up to his Grandfather's reputation, the great Major General Roy Mustang. She remembered him, not so great, obsessed with having female officers in mini-skirts.

The phone rang, "Yes?"

"Furher," said her secretary, "a man named Al Elric has called."

Al, call here? Her muscles tightened, "Patch him through," click, "Al?"

"Hey Ali, I—," his sweet voice cracked into sadness, and sobs echoed on the other end.

"Should I come?" she said strongly, implying she would anyway.

"Yes, thank you." He hung up.

Click, "Yes, Furher," said the secretary.

Ali tapped her finger on the desk, "Tell my grandson that are visit couldn't be longer today, but something important has come up." _Something very important._


	9. Dying to die

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, reaching from Alphonse getting his body back, to far into the future. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother.

* * *

Al went back to the cemetery, where he'd talked with his "cousin" Alan yesterday. The flowers were dry, dull, petals scattered like white blood drops over the grass. He clapped his hands and made some new flowers. 

A car stopped in the distance, footsteps could be heard coming down the gravel path; Al waited to speak until loving arms were wrapped around him, the scent of book glue and roses on the sleeves. The sun was setting and the sky of Resembool was filled with layers of cool glowing colors. Tears fell on his cheeks—for the sunset, for himself.

"Allison," he croaked.

"It's okay Uncle Al," she said.

"No," he looked down at his smooth young hand, gripped by the wrinkled pale fingers of his niece, "it's not okay. Why—"

She hugged him tighter, "I'm sorry I could never figure it out, although it must have something to do when you were the stone or when your body was in the gate. It is a headache to explain you into the family tree."

"I came back so young, and I aged, then, it just stopped—just stopped, I can't even remember when I noticed, noticed that I looked younger then Elysia, when I looked the same age as my own son. And then—then younger them," he grabbed onto her, "I had to watch them all die, Ali, everyone from my past. _I should be with them_."

That emphasis, "Uncle?"

He unwrapped himself from her, and stared pleading with brown eyes that were dying everyday even as they lived, "Please, Ali. I know it seems wrong, but, brother…your father, it's not fair."

"No, it's not," she stood up and stared down at her Uncle, "And it's not wrong, and I will."

He pulled on his hair, sobbing into his knees, "It's so terrible to ask it of you, so terrible to even think of it. But I've tried myself, I can't do it, not good enough at least, it always heals. I can't…"

She placed an old finger on his pink lips, "If you could do it, you wouldn't be Alphonse Elric. It's not in your nature."

"Yet, I ask it of you."

Ali weakly smiled, "It is in my nature."

They stood in the clearing Ali had brought Wrath to decades ago. Some of her young descendents seemed to have been using it for the same purpose she innocently used to, as she found bits of alchemy created statues and branches with weird patterns. She couldn't remember what if felt like to be innocent.

Al wiped his eyes, "Who would think, it would come to this."

"I have taken many lives, many of those were people...close to me, but as Furher I am used to carrying burdens" she said. She faced her Uncle and hesitately hugged him.

Al's eyes widened as she embraced him closer; cold metal slid between his ribs and a burning sensation bubbled through his veins; blood trickled out of his mouth, leaving purple tracks on her uniform. He closed his eyes as pain ebbed into numbness, reminding him of his suit of armor. A grin played on his face.

"I'm really dying?"

"Transmuting the iron in you're blood," she said.

"Human trans-transmutation," he choked.

She let a tear drop, "No human lives forever."

"Thank you," he watched her hot tears stream down from golden eyes and mix with his blood, "I love you, Ed." His form hung on her like a heavy doll. She clumsily lowered him to the ground, pulling out her blade from his chest. His body was white, devoid of blood, eyes half opened, with a lovely smirk on his face as if his brother had just amused him.

"I love you, Uncle Al, good bye" she kissed his cheek.

She stood in front of his grave where she'd put him, where everyone thought he already was. Clap, she put her hands on the granite stone, and the date changed: Alphonse Elric 1900—2006.


	10. Beginning Again

The Cycle of Pain and Hope

By Teenangel

Summary: a different ending to FMA, from Alphonse getting his body back to far into the future. Mostly following the life of Ed's daughter. Not what you expect at all! Blood, violence. Future fic. edxwinry alxelysia. spoilers.

Author's note: some things may not be accurate to the anime, bear with me. And I swear this story has a happy ending!

Disclaimer: Got bored the day after finals, college student, so broke, wouldn't even bother.

* * *

Alan Elric, now thirty-nine, stood in the cemetery making flower wreaths. When he reached Allison Elric's stone, he made one of roses instead of daisies. He paused staring at it, remembering the funeral years ago, and the sea of people that came to pay respects.

Allison Trisha Elric

1926-2024

Furher of the People

"There is always hope"

The sun was shining at the Elric home in Risembool, a sign on the front that read, "Alchemy and Automail Workshop" owned by Alan and Jessica Elric. 'A quaint place for the former Furher's grandson to make a family, and a quaint home for such a well respected State Alchemist,' the towns people would say, 'such a humble family.'

"I am better then you," said Edward Elric, Alan's son, "see, mine came out better."

Alan's youngest, Alphonse frowned at his crooked horse, "So, mine is is—"

"Ugly?"

Little Al's brown eyes began to swell, "You're mean."

"Sorry," Ed said, hoping his little brother wouldn't run off to their mother; he'd already got in trouble this morning for transmuting one of her pots. "I'll teach you how to make a better one."

Al sniffed "Okay." They sat down under an oak tree with their father's books and began to get to work. Al propped Intro to Alchemy on his legs. "Brother, does this every seem familiar to you, like you've learned it before?"

"Actually," Ed flipped through a couple books, "yeah it does. Strange huh."

"Yes, you think bigger brother experiences the same thing when he reads books?"

Ed frowned, "Bigger Brother doesn't do alchemy, because he's—"

A shadow fell over them, 'Bigger Brother' glared at Edward, flipping his long curly hair over his shoulder, "Because I'm a what? I'm waiting you little metal headed pipsqueak."

"Because, because," Ed dropped his book and tapped his brother on the shoulder, "Your it," he said and bolted down the hill, followed closely by Al. The oldest Elric stood their dumbfounded.

"Come on, William," they shouted.

He smiled and stretched his legs, "Ready or not you midgets, I'm coming to get you."

Alan came home to see his three sons lying on the grass, breathing heavily, and laughing their sides sore. He went inside and turned on the TV: _Furher Maes Mustang has convinced Parliament to acknowledge the Ishbalan people as a separate autonomous nation...  
_

* * *

_Dear Journal, _

_My father told me his story and the stories within his story, he told me the vicious cycle of mistakes, misery, and pain the human race repeats indefinitely. Always the same players, the same events, the same tragic ending. But I don't agree with him. There is always hope that we can learn from the past, we can see the warning signs before we cross the lines, we can keep our promises. _

_And maybe life does repeat, and everything will happen again, but for one turn of the cycle I think that everything is going to be okay. _

_Ali_


End file.
